Investing.com - Oil was lower Friday as the focus turned to U.S. rig count data due out later in the session.
Brent crude was off 50 cents, or 0.88%, at $56.08 at 08:00 ET. U.S. crude fell 41 cents, or 0.75%, to $54.04.
Oil earlier had held onto gains after Energy Information Administration (EIA) official inventory data on Thursday.
The EIA reported a rise in U.S. crude stocks of 564,000 barrels in the latest week, well below a forecast increase of 3.475 million barrels.
The market is looking to Baker Hughes rig count figures to gauge the level of U.S. shale activity.
Increased North American output could work against agreed production cuts by other major producers.
OPEC and non-OPEC producers have agreed cuts of 1.8 million barrels a day in the first half of the year.
Initial compliance levels with the cuts in production have been high.